Type 2 diabetes reduced with surgery

A new study on weight loss surgery in the UK has found a large reduction in type 2 diabetes.

The National Bariatric Surgery Registry (NBSR) said type 2 diabetes fell by 50% and on average patients lost nearly 60% of their excess weight a year after surgery.

The report said there are about one million people in the UK who could benefit from bariatric surgery such as gastric bypasses and gastric bands.

Out of some 10,000 operations carried out in the UK during the financial years 2008/09 and 2009/10, the audit looked at 7,045.

One-year follow up data for 1,421 operations showed that 379 patients had type 2 diabetes before surgery, while one year later that figure had fallen to 188.

Bariatric surgeon and NBSR Data Committee chairman, Alberic Fiennes, said the treatment should be made more widely available on the NHS.

“An approach that limits treatment to a fraction of those who would benefit is one which the NHS will rue in years to come as these patients become an unsustainable burden on the health service,” he said.

“Prevention strategy alone has proved ineffective; there are at least two generations of morbidly obese patients who are now presenting with diabetes, stroke, heart disease and cancer for whom preventative measures are utterly irrelevant.”

The Royal College of Surgeons called on the government to develop a long-term plan in this area while Diabetes UK said obese people should try to lose weight through diet and lifestyle changes first.